Blue

Tallulah?

Atlas followed Talon. After the outburst with Lord Kelwin, he wanted to see what had been irking the boy since they began their travels.

He followed him to a house and waited in the shadows as he knocked on a door. An older woman opened the door and then seemingly collapsed in tears.

"My child! You're alive! I couldn't believe my eyes when you rode in yesterday, I thought for sure you were a cruel trick of nature," she cried. The woman shared many of

"Mother, it's okay, I'm here," the first change he noticed was Talon's voice. It was higher and softer.

"My sweet daughter, how I've wronged you," the older woman cupped Talon's face. Was his-no her- name, really Talon. He reeled in shock at the reality of his guard member being a woman.

"When Lord Kelwin had come to see me after you had ran off I thought for sure I'd never see you again. Gerard was with him, and -" she wept.

"Do not speak to me of that man, I have tried so hard to forget him," she hissed.

"Why? What happened? Once Bard married you off, you never came to visit, but I was assured you were alright until you weren't,"

"Really? I wanted nothing more than to kill him, mother, I don't know what lies Bard has told you. I shouldn't have come. I need to go, I just wanted to see how you were doing," Tallulah turned to leave after her hurried words. Too much was left concealed, and now her mother's actions or lack of actions made sense. She'd been as much as a victim as Tallulah was.

"Tallulah, please, stay for the night, I want to know everything," Atlas blanched at the name. He recalled from first meeting her that she spoke, now he realized, in an indirect way, about who she really was. He felt nothing but pity for her now. She was abused by her stepfather and again by  her husband...what a strange thought. She seemed too free willed for marriage.

"I will stay outside, I can sense Bard asleep inside, and I refuse to see him. But I'll tell you all that I can," she said tersely. Her mother nodded. They sat in front of the house. He followed suit in his hiding place. His curiosity had peaked, and he needed to know why she did what she did.

"I didn't want to marry him, mother, I knew he wasn't a good man. I had seen how he treated his animals and knew that I wouldn't fare much better," she started. He could see in the moonlight tears glistening on her cheeks as her voice wavered.

"The first few weeks were okay. It was the small things at first. A slap here, and kick there, I was too headstrong for him, and he didn't like it. But it got worse when I had a miscarriage. He blamed my heritage mom. He thought he was tricked once he saw my scales, but Bard had paid him too much so he couldn't say anything. He tried removing them with knives," she hissed the word as if the memory itself would come back, "and the pain was unreal. He felt cheated," Tallulah paused here, and it allowed Atlas to think...scales...he fought the urge to look away when he noticed she was removing her shirt. It was too private of a moment, but he needed answers.

"He found that flaying was the best method to remove them," she turned her back towards him and her mother, "my back was his greatest accomplishment on my skin, until he wanted more of my skin and less of my scales," Atlas had to bite back a cry of shock. He almost missed the inky color that spread into the blue. Tallulah was his mate...

Betrayal shook his being to the very core. He had been given the name Tula at the ball, but he knew that wasn't right. It didn't fit, but Tallulah did.

"Why didn't you say something," her mother asked.

"How could I? He owned me. Don't you understand? It wasn't marriage. Married people don't do what he did to me, mother. I was nothing more than property that he could destroy. Especially after I was seemingly barren because it wasn't for lack of trying. Every time I would get two months along and then miscarried," she unwrapped the bindings on her chest. He wanted to look away but couldn't. Her chest was covered in scar tissue that wound from where her breast was supposed to be and expanded to her shoulder. Scales grew sparsely in that area, and her chest seemed to concave where the tissue had been torn from her body.

"This was the last thing he did to me. I wasn't supposed to survive. He stabbed me repeatedly that night because I couldn't give him an heir. I had just had my third miscarriage at that point, and he had deemed me useless. I waited two months for my chest to be mostly healed before running away. It still ached the day that I left,"

"Put your clothes back on, that is indecent, Tallulah. Someone could see," she whispered. He could almost feel the tangible pain from Tallulah. Her mother was in disbelief, and it felt to him that she didn't want to believe what Tallulah was saying.

"Let them," she paused, and Atlas waited for what she was going to say next, but the door behind the women opened.

"Amaria? Who are y-" an older man stepped out of the house. Disgust flashed on his face once he realized who was there. He slapped Tallulah before dragging her to her feet.

"You! Do you have any idea the embarrassment you've caused me! That you've cause Gerard! How dare you return here,"

"Bard! Stop!" Her mother stood to help her daughter. He back handed her in response.

"This is your fault woman, if you hadn't been a sleaze your dear Tallulah wouldn't be here. She can claim her bastard title," she wept at these words. Atlas knew from past experiences that Tallulah often froze when dealing with hand to hand combat, and he knew now it was because of abuse. She had said so before, but he'd doubted the level. She either went berserk or couldn't move to save her life. And he wanted to help her but he knew he couldn't. Not right now. It would jeopardize too much.

"Leave! You've caused us enough grief with your bastard blood," he threw her onto the ground, and a cry of pain left Tallulah's lips. He smelled the blood immediately but couldn't tell where it was coming from on her person.

"Gladly, I should have never come back in the first place," she spit a globule of blood at him before gathering her shirt and wraps for her chest. Her mother and stepfather went back inside, leaving her outside to dress again. He wanted to comfort her but was conflicted.

She had been right under his nose the entire time, and he didn't hate her. He knew why she never came out of hiding. She was married, she was broken, but he still found her beautiful. Yes, he was betrayed by the one person he was supposed to cherish and love, but he couldn't find it in himself to hate her for her reasons.

She was married...

Her voice was soft, softer than the voice she used around him and his men. And it suited her. The main thing that concerned him most was how she was able to hide from him for so long. He couldn't smell her, nor could he feel the presence of her mind.

He returned to the keep shortly after Tallulah.

"I hope for you sake, Atlas didn't see you. He left shortly after you did," a voice hissed.

"He didn't, or at least I didn't run into him. Why do you care? You keep asking me why I'm hiding from him. " things were silent.

"Because I know what it's like to keep a secret for a good reason, but I also know how it can take a toll on someone. I worry about you, little sister,"

"I'm older than you, technically you're my little brother Mykel,"

"Technicalities aside, I worry you're going to blow everything while we are here. You have blood on your tunic," Mykel added as an afterthought.

"My shoulder was scraped by being thrown to the ground, nothing more," she said absentmindedly. Their door closed. He collapsed in his own room. Hands were shaking. Too much made sense now. Talon, Tallulah's, aversion to horses, most did not like her for they could smell the dragon in her. The lack of facial hair, women didn't have that. The fact that unlike the rest of his guard, she never trained without a tunic, she couldn't. She never wore anything but long sleeves and high necks. They were the only thing that covered her scales.

She was dragon kin...

But not fully. She was a bastard and sister of Mykel. That revelation alone could elevate her status, based on what Lord Kelwin had said every evening.

Could she shift? If not fully, maybe partially? He tried to reach out to her mind, but there was nothing there. It worried him. To what extent had she gone to hide from him?

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Had to make a few alterations to this chapter because I wrote it before the Ball scene...anyways, Atlas finally knows the truth. I will probably rewrite this chapter at some point.